Northumberland farmers want to see land tax at status quo BY JOHN CAMPBELL
Northumberland County – Area farmers, whose agricultural land has soared in value – double in some cases – are asking the county to keep their share of the tax burden at the traditional level. A senior policy analyst with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was to make the case at county council Feb. 15, accompanied by local representatives of farm organizations. “We’re trying to prevent a decision that would negatively impact the bottom line of the beef farmers,” said Doug Gray, a Castleton-area farmer who’s a director with the Northumberland Cattlemen’s Association. He also serves as a liaison with the Northumberland Federation of Agriculture and is an advisory councillor with Beef Farmers of Ontario. Farmland in Northumberland increased in value over four years by 123 per cent as of Jan. 1, 2016, while residential values went up just 12 per cent, the OFA presentation states. If the tax ratio for farmland is
kept at 25 per cent of the residential tax rate, it would double the amount of tax dollars farmers contribute to the county from 1.3 per cent to 2.6 per cent, by the time the new assessments are phased in completely by 2020. (In Cramahe Township, farmers account for six per cent of municipal tax revenues.) The OFA analysis recommends the tax ratio for farm properties be lowered incrementally over the same period, from 20 per cent in 2017 down to 13 per cent in 2020, to maintain the current proportion of tax burden between classes (residential, farm and commercial). Higher taxes would be another blow for farmers after last summer’s drought, when “there wasn’t enough rain to produce the hay that we normally have,” Gray said. “There’s been a lot of farmers who have had to reduce their herd size to get through the winter to have enough feed for the young ones.” He reduced his herd from around 85 animals to 65. Having to pay higher taxes for
land now valued twice what it had been would be “just another nail in the coffin,” Gray said. The cost of renting farmland will also go up, he added. He owns 140 acres and leases another 300. “The beef industry is under pressure now,” he said. “There’s a lot of older farmers getting out of the business and we’re not seeing a whole lot of younger people getting in.” He doesn’t see himself exiting the industry any time soon. “We’re going to try to persevere with what we have and see where it takes us,” he said. “The pressure is there. We’ll have to see what the bottom line is.” 2015 was “a very good year ... but since then prices have slid a bit,” Gray said. “We’re on a slight recovery but nowhere where we should be.” He was putting the word out for farmers to attend the Feb. 15 county council meeting because “it’s going John Campbell/Metroland to be a lot easier to make a change Castleton-area beef farmer Doug Gray is hoping Northumberland now, than if they go with the status County will respond positively to a request by farmers to keep their quo and a whole bunch of people share of the tax burden as is. start crying about it (afterwards).”
Drought advisory ends in Quinte region
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Trenton – The Lower Trent Conservation has lifted the 7-month drought advisory, triggered by extremely dry conditions throughout most of 2016. Average precipitation in December and January and improved stream flows are no longer within the low water response program criteria but Lower Trent Conservation officials still urge rural residents to be wary of their water use. “Dropping the low water advisory does not mean that groundwater levels have returned to normal across the entire watershed,” said Janet Noyes, water resource manager. “The mild weather this winter has allowed for some infiltration of rain and melted snow into the ground but we still need at least an average spring runoff to restore groundwater levels to near normal.” The Lower Trent Conservation watershed region, an area stretching from Grafton to Quinte West and from Lake Ontario to Rice Lake, has been in low water conditions since early June 2016. A Level 1 Low Water Condition was declared on June 3 due to lack of rainfall and low flows in local creeks and streams. It was upgraded to a Level 2 on July 4 and then upgraded to a Level 3 for the northeastern portion of the watershed region, the Township of StirlingRawdon and the Municipality of Centre Hastings, as of September 1. To learn more about Ontario’s Low Water Response program visit ltc.on.ca.
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Brighton Independent - Thursday, February 16, 2017 9